Reinforced chair seats



1956 J. B. ADLER 2,757,717

REINFORCED CHAIR SEATS Filed July 29, 1954 FIG. 6

7 I INVENTOR.

JOHN B. ADLER F IG. 4

mgmm

Attorney United States Patent 2,757,717 REINFORCED CHAIR SEATS John B. Adler, Grosse Ile, Mich., assignor to Shwayder Bros, Inc., Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Colorado Application July 29, 1954, Serial No. 446,436 3 Claims. (Cl. 155-178) This invention relates to reinforced chair seats and more particularly to seats made of sheet metal or the like for folding chairs.

On the less expensive types of folding chairs, it is common to form the seat out of sheet metal which may be stamped to form the shape seat desired.

The major objection to the use of this type seat is that, even where a relatively heavy gage sheet is used, the sheet lacks rigidity and may be bent or twisted out of shape. This is particularly true where a heavy weight, such as a person standing, is placed upon the seat. Here the seat tends to buckle along a line down the center from the front to the rear thereof.

The object of my invention is to provide a reinforcing means for sheet metal chair seats to increase rigidity and to eliminate bending of the seat due to twisting or torsional loads and due to direct loads upon the upper surface.

To accomplish this object, I provide a suitable flange at the front, and where desirable, at the rear of the chair seat and secure a reinforcing strip within this flange to provide an inexpensive strengthening means.

The novel structure employed and the various other uses and objects of my invention will become apparent from reading the following description of which the attached drawings form a part.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1 illustrates the side view of a chair to which my invention is particularly applicable.

Figure 2 is a front view of the chair shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a side view of the chair seat, per se.

Figure 4 shows a perspective view of a section of the chair seat with a reinforcing strip extended therefrom.

Figure 5 is a partial perspective view of the reinforcing strip, and

Figure 6 is a view taken on line 66 of Figure 3.

In Figures 1 and 2 there is shown a conventional type of folding chair. This chair has a U-shaped frame 10 terminating in legs 1.1 and 12. A back 13 is fastened to this frame by any suitable means.

To the frame 10, legs 14 (only one is shown in Figure 1) are pivotally connected by hinge members 15. In addition a chair seat 20 is made of a sheet of stamped sheet metal. Fastened on each side of the seat are angle strips 23. These strips form flanges having holes 24, through which pins 21 and 22 are inserted. The angle strips may be secured to the chair seat in any conventional manner, as for example, by means of welding.

The front and rear edges of seat 20 are bent to form flanges 25 and 26 respectively. The flanges 25 and 26 are preferably bent gradually from the main body of the seat to obtain smooth curved front and rear edges. In this manner the appearance of the seat is enhanced and moreover there are no sharp edges to discomfort the chair users.

The terminal edges of each of flanges 25 and 26 are bent rearwardly and upwardly to provide channels 27 and 28. Within these channels reinforcement strips 30 are inserted. The channels, themselves, are of such a dimension that the strips 30 are frictionally retained therein and may be slid in or out only with some effort.

Strips 30 are transversely curved to fit the curve of flanges 25 and 26 and to cover the inside surfaces of said flanges as well as extend slightly into the area of the chair body. These strips are then permanently retained in position by welding or by means of rivets or the like.

While the chair seat is described as being reinforced at the front and rear edges, it can be seen that when a heavy enough gage sheet metal is used, it may be suflicient to use only one reinforcing strip at the front or at the rear edge of the chair seat.

The combination of the flange, the bent flange edge forming the channel, and the reinforcing strip permanently secured in position results in a chair seat which is extremely rigid and is highly resistant to twisting or bending due to heavy loads. In addition, the reinforcing means described is inexpensive and may even effect a saving by reducing the thickness of the sheet metal previously required for chair seats of this type.

In addition, my reinforcing means may be used in structures, other than chair seats, where sheet metal is used. One example of such a use would be in metallic shelving where it is desirable to increase the strength of a relatively thin sheet of metal used to support various types of objects.

My invention may be further developed within the scope of the following claims Without departing from the essential features of the said invention. Accordingly, it is desired that the specification and drawings be read as being merely illustrative of a practical embodiment of the same and and not in a strictly limiting sense.

I claim:

1. A chair seat comprising a seat body formed of sheet material and having elongated edges, a flange bent downwardly from said body along one edge thereof, an elongated narrow reinforcing strip transversely bent to fit the configuration of the flange and of the bend between the flange and said body, said strip being nestled in close contact with the flange and extending substantially the length of said flange with one elongated edge terminating at and in contact with the underside of the body of the seat at the bend, the free edge of said flange being bent into a channel opening upwardly toward the underside of the body, and the other elongated edge of said strip being inserted into and in tight contact with the walls and base of the channel, said strip being additionally mechanically fastened to the sheet material.

2. A chair seat as defined in claim 1, and having a second downwardly bent flange formed on an edge of said seat body opposite to the edge on which the first mentioned flange is formed and having a second elongated narrow strip in contact with the flange and seat body; said second flange and strip being identical in construction to the first mentioned flange and strip.

3. An edge reinforcing means for a device formed of sheet material having an underside and having an elongated edge, an edge flange integral with the sheet and extending at a substantially right angle to the sheet and formed by bending the edge of the sheet, the free edge of said flange being bent into a channel opening toward the underside of the sheet, an elongated, narrow reinforcing strip, transversely bent to fit the configuration of the flange and the bend between the flange and the sheet, said strip being positioned in tight contact with the flange and having one elongated edge terminating at and in contact with the underside of the sheet at the bend between the flange and sheet, and the other elongated edge tightly held within the channel and in contact with the base of the channel.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 942,570 Lawrence Dec. 7, 1909 1,716,694 Harter June 11, 1929 1,719,532 Cable July 2, 1929 2,302,969 McMahan Nov. 24, 1942 

